Covid: Most Swiss keen to return to cultural events

Visitors at the "Viva Frida Kahlo - Immersive Exhibition", which combines video projections, first-person narration and an original musical score, in Lausanne on December 16 © Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

After almost three years since the start of the Covid pandemic, two-thirds of Swiss are again participating in cultural life – theatres, concerts, museums or the cinema – without concerns, twice as many as in June 2021.

This conclusion is based on the fourth survey, conducted in September and October 2022, on behalf of the Federal Office of Culture and the cantons. Since the third survey in June 2021, the willingness to attend a cultural event “without much hesitation” has doubled from 30%.

In general, attendance at cultural events has decreased for about half of respondents compared with before the pandemic, the culture office said in a statementExternal link on Monday. People had got used to staying at home during the pandemic, it said.

What’s more, 18% of people who had been involved in amateur cultural activities have since given them up.

In contrast, cultural offerings in the digital sphere are becoming increasingly important. The survey confirms, however, that these can complement the analogue cultural sector but not replace it. Some 69% of the 1,235 respondents throughout Switzerland still considered personal meetings and local exchange to be indispensable.